More Smart Love

I just didn't get it all in yesterday.

 Talking about Smart Love is my passion. My fire. My prayer for you (Philippians 1:9). And when I went to bed last night I just couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about all that I should have said.

 So, here it goes. It's not very bloggish. Just a bunch of bullet points. Not very catchy. Uncool. 

 BUT IT IS TRUTH. IT IS LIFE. If I could ask you to remember ONE THING, this would be it. (Well, combined with yesterday's! :))
  • Another name for Smart Love is WISDOM. Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs, which describes what it means to have and not have wisdom. (And he's the PERFECT author for this, for although he asked God for wisdom and got all the wisdom He needed, he chose not to use it often. So he's really an expert on what happens when you're wise and when you're not.)
I wish you would read Proverbs 1-4 today; it's the summary of what wisdom is. But here are a few highlights: it avoids sin; it means we listen to older, wiser people; God turns away when we reject it; it will overtake you like a storm; it is as precious as gold; it is a shield to protect you; it affects not only your mind but your heart and soul; we are blessed when we have it; God is wise, and He lets us have some of it; it keeps us from fear; IT IS SUPREME.
  • Smart Love doesn't stop with being wise and loving; it leads us to ACT. To DO. Specifically, to OBEY. Now, I'm really cautious in how I say this here, because I don't want you to think that your faith is based on what you do. But real faith obeys God (see the book of James). Believing God makes us righteous, or right before God. Worship takes us into His presence. But righteousness and worship are not how we love Him. God has defined what we do when we love Him: "This is what love for God is: to keep His commands," (1 John 5:3). Love God? Obey Him. Smart love leads us to obedience. You can't claim to have smart love and not walk obediently with God.
  • We have Smart Love because SO DOES GOD. There are 47 times in Scripture that the words "know" and "love" appear in the same verse. (I dare you to find them all!) Many of them refer to us having Smart Love, or love for God and others based on knowledge. But Scripture often talks about how God knows us and loves us. Not the us we want to be. Not the us we wish we were. YOU. The real you. The you with anger issues and dry scalp and selfishness and an unresolved past. He knows you better than you know you; and HE STILL LOVES YOU. 
  • You can only get Smart from the Bible. Nothing else. I know you're looking at papers and exams and all kinds of college-type smart stuff. But Smart [with a capital S] doesn't come from any of those things. You can only be Smart when you know God's Word.
  • You don't need to work at making your Smart Love visible to others; they will see it. Focus on KNOWING God and LOVING Him out of that knowledge. As we get more and more full of God through of our knowledge of Him, everyone else sees it (John 17). And we can only really know how to love others if we love and obey God (1 John 5:2).
So let me attempt to bring this to a close: 

  • Love involves your soul. We can't know love unless we know God through salvation in Jesus Christ.
  • Love involves your mind. You can't truly love without knowledge.
  • Love involves your mouth and your body. When you know God and love Him, you live in obedience in every way.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, (Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27).

SMART LOVE.


Are you coming to my Bible Study? Did you let me know? (Do you even know what I'm talking about?) See the info at the end of yesterday's post to get the details.

@leslienotebook
myleslienotebook@gmail.com
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